County Governor Forum

Date Monday 2nd November 2015

Time 18:00 – 20:30

Location Conference Room, Falcon House, Winchester

Present: / Cllr Peter Edgar
Governors
Robin Gray
Alastair Angwin
Jill Hall
Peter Higgs
Roy Lee
Andrew March
Trevor Pitman
Sylvia Vine
Gary Walker
David Wright / Executive Member for Education (Chair)
Hampshire County Council
Mandy Parsons / Governor Services
Steve Crocker
Melanie Saunders
Peter Colenutt
Amanda Stevens
Glyn Wright
Helen Hardy / Interim Director of Children’s Services
County Manager (Education & Improvement)
Head of Strategic Development
Education Personnel Services
HIAS
Clerk
Apologies: / Mark Barlow
Shirley Nellthorpe
John Clarke
Richard Johnson / Governor
Governor
Hampshire County Council
Governor
1. / Welcome and Apologies
Councillor Edgar welcomed members to the meeting. Apologies were received and accepted as above.
2. / Chairman’s Update
Cllr Edgar presented the Don Allen Award for Outstanding Service to Robin Gray, Peter Higgs, Roy Lee, Andrew Turk, Sylvia Vine and David Wright.
Cllr Perry has been elected Chair of the Children and Young People’s Board at the Local Government Association. The Authority continues to work closely with the government and Cllr Perry will be working with policy makers in national government in this role.
John Coughlan has been appointed as the Chief Executive of Hampshire County Council and his knowledge of children’s services and the County Council will be very valuable in providing continuity. Steve Crocker has been appointed to the interim Director of Children’s Services role and although the length of this appointment is not yet known, it is likely to be in place for some time. John Clarke will be retiring in March 2016 and all members of the County Governor Forum asked that their gratitude to him be recorded for all his hard work and commitment over the years. Brian Pope will be replacing him in an interim role. Governors welcomed Steve to his new job and look forward to working with him.
Cllr Edgar has attended 149 meetings related to education since the last County Governor Forum. Of those 149, 50 were visits to schools and Cllr Edgar is keen to keep up these visits to demonstrate the local authority support for schools.
The Academies and Free Schools position remains the same: 30/70 Secondary Schools, 13/428 Primary Schools, 3/26 Special Schools, 1/7 Education Centres. The process of setting up a free school or an academy remains extremely complex and the supporting role of the Local Authority is critical. Parents and governors will not be able to stop the process under the new Education Bill. At present however, there is not the capacity for delivery of academies at the middle level. Cllr Edgar attended the National Children and Adults Conference where he met the Chairman of Ofsted.
With regards to fining for unauthorised absences, Hampshire County Council believes it has interpreted the law appropriately. Since 2013, there have been 28,000 additional pupil days in school and a 47% reduction in applications for authorised absence. The Authority remains committed to schools having the flexibility to manage individual cases.
To ensure that the Authority is complying with the law in relation to raising the participation age, 42,000 young people aged between 16 and 18 have to be monitored on a monthly basis. Across Hampshire, 95% are in some form of training or education, which is above the national and local averages.
3. / Minutes of Previous Meeting (2 June 2015)
The minutes of the meeting on 2 June 2015 were accepted as a true and accurate record with a minor amendment to page 9 (remove ADD LINK).
4. / Matters Arising
There were no matters arising.
5. / School Places Strategy 2015 – 2025
Peter Colenutt presented information about the Capital Programme in Children’s Services which will bring £248m investment over the next 3 years with a focus on basic need and capital maintenance. The driver for this is the Authority’s responsibility to strategically plan for school places and capital investment under the mantra of local schools for local children.
Between 2013 and 2018, the Authority will have built 11, 000 primary places and 9, 000 secondary places. The priority areas are: new school places, maintenance of existing buildings, education centres, SEN provision and children’s homes. There are ongoing pressures on primary places with the birth rate continuing to rise in Hampshire and further new housing developments. It will be a challenge to ensure the capital funding is available to address these school places. Currently, developer contributions bring in around £180m but the introduction of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) will make this much harder. The inflationary pressure in the construction market, currently standing at 7.4%, is also a problem. There are five district authorities with no approved Local Development Plan in place which means that developers can put in plans at any point.
Modular buildings will be the solution in some areas when the birth rate levels off and starts to fall. The growth in the secondary sector is just beginning. Melanie Saunders is leading an affordable curriculum group to look at those secondary schools which currently have low numbers but will be growing in the near future.
Are the proposed secondary schools for pupils aged 11 – 16 or 11 – 19? There will be a range of options proposed, from all-through schools for 4 to 16 year olds and possibly 2 – 19 year olds. The Authority will look at the appropriate solution for each development.
Will this mean competition for maintained schools? Any new schools will be academies or free schools. There will be a mixed economy. Hampshire currently imports a huge number of students from other authorities for FE provision.
Secondary Provision
The idea of “Local Schools for Local Children” is based on a push back analysis, for example 600 – 700 children come into Winchester every day for secondary school. The plan is to increase capacity in other areas and to improve the quality of these schools. Development of secondary schools in Hampshire equates to (38 form entry) 5 new secondary schools and 22.5 (form entry) of extensions to existing schools.
Cllr Edgar added that Peter is Chair of the Education Building Officers Group who work with the DfE and EFA nationally to deliver the PM’s promise of 500 new free schools.
The Authority team are working on design issues such as reducing the floor area in line with government guidelines whilst retaining teaching space. They continue to work with other local authorities to gain economies of scale in materials and contracting issues. There is a commitment to high quality buildings. In terms of engagement, they are looking at different options for school types and design, along with the costs of school set-up and recruitment and retention of staff for which they are working with EPS. They are working with HT representative groups and are now looking at broader engagement with HTs and governors.
Have officers had a chance yet to look at SEN provision as per the question raised at Schools Forum? The team will be looking at the development of new schools based on new developments and the likely numbers of children with SEN needs. There will also be a need to do capital work in special schools. However, funding will be challenging. Steve Crocker added that Hampshire already has more children than other authorities in special schools and analysing the reason behind this is another ongoing piece of work.
What confidence is there in the population growth figures? The figures for primary schools are based on live birth data from the NHS and secondary numbers are rolled forward from the primary data. For new housing developments, officers estimate the likely numbers of primary aged and secondary aged children and those with SEN.
What is wrong with “Lego”/modular buildings? The Authority is working with the construction industry to look at how they can use well built and designed and long-lasting modular buildings that are suitable for educating children in Hampshire.
Is there a risk in moving away from the broad and balanced curriculum with a reduced floor space in schools? The Authority is keen to retain a level of flexibility in the design of buildings that are due to last for 50-60 years over which time the curriculum is likely to change and they remain committed to ensure that libraries etc remain usable spaces.
What is wrong with “going up”? This is being done in some of the new buildings, for example the new primary school in Basingstoke is a two-storey building and secondaries will be more likely to have more than one storey, but there are cost implications of accessibility and this is always considered.
What about the environmental impact of the new buildings? New designs look to have pitched roofs and if possible they will have solar panels but the budget implication is huge for this. The aim is to have local contractors working on building projects and they also look at the materials to consider their environmental impact.
Cllr Edgar stated that the quality of school buildings remains a key factor for all elected members.
6. / Overview of the Prevent Agenda
Glyn Wright introduced a presentation on the Prevent Agenda. There has been a large focus on it recently but it is not new and there has been a strategy group on it in Hampshire for around 7 years. It sits within the Keeping Children Safe in Education requirements and also in the Promoting Fundamental British Values documents.
There are very clear safeguarding issues highlighted in the Keeping Children Safe in Education which include preventing radicalisation. This should be seen as part of a journey towards tolerance and harmony. There is a duty on schools to work towards creating community cohesion, providing a safe space for children to discuss issues around religion, terrorism and other “difficult” issues. Where schools do teach religious law, they must emphasise the difference between national and religious law. Schools must work with the Local Children’s Safeguarding Board which includes representatives from a broad range of agencies. This board holds all these agencies to account including schools. One of their requirements is the section 75 self-assessment return on the school’s safeguarding policies. There is a useful annual report produced (http://www.hampshiresafeguardingchildrenboard.org.uk/user_controlled_lcms_area/uploaded_files/HSCB%20Annual%20Report%202014-15%20-%20web%20version.pdf).
Has there been a problem with schools not submitting their returns? There are around 30% that haven’t done their return and these schools have been written to by the Chair of the LCSB.
Staff training is vital. The Prevent Duty in Schools document (pages 9 and 10) refers to good quality PSHE and Citizenship teaching within schools. E-safety is also key in terms of preventing children from accessing unsuitable materials online.
Ofsted will also be looking at this under Effectiveness of Leadership and Management in terms of ensuring safeguarding arrangements meet statutory and other government requirements. It is also considered under personal development, behaviour and safety under children understanding how to keep themselves safe.
In August five HIAS staff did the “Workshop to Raise Awareness of Prevent (WRAP)” training and are now able to deliver this to schools. The training which is being developed for governors will include the WRAP training but will also set the context for schools and look at what schools should do to ensure that they are delivering it and the need for a whole school approach encompassing e-safety, contribution of RE, contribution of PSHE and citizenship, strengthening pastoral system, improving the pupil voice, review policies and procedures.
There is a real focus from Ofsted on both radicalisation and issues around the health and physical wellbeing of pupils.
Should schools be doing the risk assessment on Prevent themselves? Part of the training will be about identifying risks and areas for concern within your own school. HIAS will be working with schools to ensure that they know what they need to be doing. There is a Channel Panel who can help with a type of “Team around a Child” meeting for specific children. This is a programme for de-radicalising children and young people. There is also the Multi-agency safeguarding hub which includes people with Prevent training.
Does every school need to do a risk assessment? Schools will conduct their own risk assessments based on their understanding of their own children. This is principally about raising awareness of the range of issues that are happening within Hampshire. For example this might include right-wing terrorism, animal rights activism.
How will bringing a group of officials together persuade them to change their behaviours? The group might be working to protect children from their parents who may have been radicalised or explaining to children who have been radicalised how this exploitation may have taken place.
How can we reinforce the message to governors and others that this is not about spying on children but is about safeguarding children? Glyn encouraged as many of governors to attend the training, and to retain the welfare of young people at the heart of every school.
7. / Pupil Premium – outcome of website monitoring
There is a school by school record of the website monitoring as well as a broader picture. 15% of schools do not have a Pupil Premium statement on their website in spite of the clear expectations from the DfE about what information should be published.